On Christmas Eve, I got forced off the road and bumped into a curb. Wheels survived (LM's) with some major curb damage but otherwise okay. I have had the lifetime alignment from Firestone for a bit over a year so I went for an alignment to see where I was at. Here's the alignment readout:





What the tech told me was that:
Caster was as good as it got
Toe was as close to zero as they could get it (front), rear toe didn't want to move
Camber didn't want to move, it was either more negative-camber or nothing.


I'm lowered a bit (not slammed) on TEIN Flex coilovers, so the loweredness may have affected the possible range of alignment. I'm dealing with insurance now and they're reluctant to pay for work because my insurance adjuster insists that the alignment should only show damage for one side of the car because only one side of the car hit the curb (like a dumbass). My question is, what parts should I stress to be inspected/thoroughly by Firestone when I bring it back in tomorrow? The toe settings front-rear has created a situation where under hard-braking the wheels squat, and going over harsh potholes/bumps make the car sway in either direction harshly (bumpsteer, which had been fixed prior to this mishap). Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

Check all your bushings in the arms. Could have broke upon impact with the curb

 

I'll be sure to check when it gets on a lift, hopefully today. Thanks.

 

It seems to me the issue is frozen adjusters more than any damage from impact. Rear toe is excessive, but not terribly asymmetrical. Front toe wasn't so much out of adjustment as off-center.

I don't think you really hurt or substantially moved anything with the curb impact. Biggest concern to me is the high rear toe, which will give accelerated tire wear and exactly the handling behavior you describe.

When you say the bumpsteer was "fixed", do you mean you got a rear bumpsteer kit?

 

Agreed on the extent of the damage, but in the process of the claim since suspension is covered I figured I will get it evaluated and sorted fully now. I am also considering selling the car in the near-future and would hate to hand this car down with anything less than full disclosure too.

The rear adjustments may or may not have been stuck (judging from the settings not changing), I will ask thoroughly today when I stop by again for the tech's input on what happened. He may have declined to make adjustments purely based on the fact that the rear tire is 255/40/17 which is significantly larger than the 225/50/16 he saw.


My bumpsteer issue was solved previously when I got an alignment in the Fall of last year, it didn't squat and the crosstoe front and rear was <0.05. This change is what is most upsetting because I don't have the knowledge or time at the moment to sort it out indefinitely I would much rather fare on the safe side than to leave something out and be declined by the insurance company later on down the line. Thanks for your input, it is very much appreciated.

 

Just got back from Firestone after talking to the manager, he said the rear toe is as close to zero as it will get and there are no more threads to adjust. He advises that something is bent to the point that those adjustments are as close to zero as possible and any adjustments available will be more positive. There is a tech there with an S2000, so I hope they were accurate in their evaluation.

 

I suffered similar damage a couple winters ago. Unfortunately, it's very hard to diagnose a bent suspension part while it's all still attached to the car. The bends are slight and not obvious. In the end, mine turned out to be a bent knuckle that threw off my alignment. I still swapped out toe arms, and tie rod ends for good measure. Later down the line we found the inner tie rod took a little beating also.

edit for clarity and some advice:
My mechanic friend and I did the initial toe arm and tie rod ends ourselves (out of pocket) and did not fix the problem. At that point, I realized the required repairs would cost beyond my deductible. I took the car to a quality body shop and told them to work with my insurance company to get the car rolling straight again. It took them multiple iterations of inspection, repair, and alignments to get her back to 100%.

 

Yeah.. looks like that's what I will have to do. I took it to a buddy of mine and he re-aligned the car for my cost out of pocket, but he got everything into the green. The only problem is that with the car's new alignment, it sways to the right. I think I'm simply going to have to let an autobody/frame shop have at it, and I'm fairly certain they'll prescribe replacing everything that could possibly be bent which will probably total my poor MY00'

 

I doubt that. Look at the cost of a parts here:
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...REAR+LOWER+ARM

Double that for the labor (rough estimate, obviously). The job should be ~ $2000. That's under 50% of the car's value (unless it's a turd), so it shouldn't get totaled.

Make sure you keep your receipts for the work you've done to date so you can be reimbursed for that too.